The revision of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) has been an ideal opportunity to realign the Bulgarian and EU energy and climate security strategies to complete the strategic decoupling from Russian energy dependence, accelerate the just transition process and reduce the country’s widespread energy poverty. Despite setting ambitious emissions reduction targets, the NECP does not define evidence-based policies or concrete measures to meet these objectives because Bulgaria’s strategic energy decision-making process remains captured by vested coal and nuclear interests.  Under the guise of safeguarding the country’s security of electricity supply, the NECP is effectively locking Bulgaria into long-term nuclear, coal and natural gas dependence. This will divert public funds to the preservation of the fossil fuel industry, instead of supporting a low-carbon transformation of the Bulgarian economy.

The current analysis evaluates the coherence and effectiveness of the final version of the NECP. It argues that Bulgaria should speed up the decarbonisation process by unlocking the country’s enormous wind energy potential, supporting the electrification of non-energy sectors, the uptake of deep energy efficiency measures and energy citizenship.